1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a linear sensor camera which gives a very precise digital image, and an effective method for processing transmission data in a linear sensor camera.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Conventional area sensors that convert received image information into electric signals have difficulty in obtaining a clear image when receiving, for example, TV image signals. This is particularly due to the fact that an insufficient number of pixels is provided to generate a character or a graphic character image.
Conventional linear sensors, when operated in a scanner, fox example, are normally used by a camera to capture an image of a character or a graphic character image. Linear sensors have a much higher resolution than area sensors, because they can capture the image data in thousands of pixels in one scanning period.
In image recognition by a linear sensor, horizontal scanning (X-axis direction) is performed, much like a CCD, which comprises a linear sensor, and subscanning (Y-axis direction) is performed, much like a pulse motor which moves a linear sensor and image information relatively in X and Y directions.
A problem occurring in conventional linear sensor cameras having a linear sensor is that the processing speed of the image output, which processes the image data, is slowed due to an inevitable increase in the quantity of image data.
This problem can be solved by digitizing the image data according to the resolution of the linear sensor and arranging the digitized data according to the spatial frequency composition of the image information. However, in accomplishing this the image data processing becomes too complex, the memory capacity required to store the image data becomes too large, and the amount of time that the image data needs to be stored becomes long. As a result, the overall processing time of the image data increases.
Accordingly, such a technique can be used effectively only on slower-type devices, such as scanners, but cannot be used effectively on faster-type devices, such as cameras.